近い (chikai) conjugation
near, close by, short
近い (ちかい, chikai) is an i-adjective. I-adjectives carry their own tense: drop the final い and the endings attach straight to the stem. No だ, no です needed to make a complete sentence.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~です) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | 近い chikai | 近いです chikaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 近くない chikakunai | 近くないです chikakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 近かった chikakatta | 近かったです chikakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 近くなかった chikakunakatta | 近くなかったです chikakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 近くて chikakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 近く chikaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 近い〜 chikai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 近ければ chikakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 近かったら chikakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 近くなる chikakunaru | 近くなります chikakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 近すぎる chikasugiru | 近すぎます chikasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 近そう chikasou | 近そうです chikasoudesu | “looks / seems ~” from appearance. |
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Why it conjugates this way
I-adjectives carry their own tense: drop the final い and the endings attach straight to the stem. No だ, no です needed to make a complete sentence.
See the full rules in the adjective conjugation guide.